Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003)

A former member of The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad is betrayed and left for dead on her wedding day and sets about revenging herself upon her erstwhile colleagues.

Quentin Tarantino has often been accused of plagiarism in the past, and Kill Bill not only happily acknowledges his many homages it positively revels in them, right from the “Shawscope” intro screen. His films are clearly a labour of love and every reference, every shot, every song on the wittily compiled soundtrack, even every sound effect has been carefully selected. Tarantino’s films are not, as many po-faced critical snobs suggest, style over substance because the style is the substance. This is a movie for the movie lover and Tarantino’s skill is in his ability to seamlessly blend so many genres, from anime to martial arts to samurai to Film Noir to spaghetti western to Blaxploitation and create something entirely his own.

If his audience dried up, I’m in no doubt that he would continue making films even if it cost him his last dollar, for the sheer pleasure of it. If it ever came down to that, I’d happily chip in.